Egyptian actress Riham Abdel Ghafour Cairo – Marwa Yehia In an exclusive interview with ‘Arabstoday’ Egyptian actress Riham Abdel Ghafour said she preferred to distance herself from cinema and return with a powerful comeback, rather than doing work for the sake of it at the expense of her artistic credit. She also mentioned instances where she took on certain roles just so that she could be on screen, a step she later regretted.
“I try to select the best roles from the ones I have on offer, so that I don’t regret doing them later,” she said. The star also said that she prefers working in film rather than television, unless a TV role is exceptionally attractive.
“Everybody is turning to TV dramas now,” said Ghafour.
Ghafour refused to tell us which of her roles she regrets doing, saying “It might not matter to me but it matters to others who put in their best efforts at the job, and that cannot be undermined.”
Ghafour was also nominated for the role in ‘Khat Ahmar’ (Red Line), where she co-starred with Mostafa Amar in the Mohamed Hamdi direction (produced by Walid Sabri). The acclaimed actress stated that she haf worked before with Mostafa Amar in the film ‘Hareem Kareem’ (Kareem’s Women), admitting that the role may have been small but influential. The film was also produced by Walid Sabri, while Mohamed Hamdi was director of photography at the time. She says she does not know who exactly nominated her for the role, and that it could have been a consensus reached between them.
Said Riham: “Despite my friendship with Mostafa Amar, since ‘Hareem Kareem’, if my role in the new film was not central or significant, regardless of its length, and if it wasn’t different from my previous roles, I would not have agreed to it. I decided to not do favour in the business, especially as I have regretted them in the past.”
About her role in ‘Khat Ahmar’, she said “I play the role of a girl called Hend, working in advertising, who meets Tarek (Mostafa Amar), and it eventually turns into a love story. The film ends with a surprise, and is thrilling throughout.”
As for her preparation for the role, Riham added “My preparations for all roles are similar; based on careful and detailed reading of the character. I start to develop what the character needs, whether outer appearance or manner of performance and emotions. I try to impersonate it, while of course discussing all details with the director and the writer. In ‘Khat Ahmar’, I appear in two different forms, in terms of hairdos, relative change in complexion, as well as clothes and performance.” She refused to disclose more information so as to not spoil the story for the audience.
Regarding her role of Aisha in the series ‘Wadi el-Molouk’ (Valley of Kings), Ghafour said: “Unfortunately, this series was unlucky due to being broadcast exclusively on one channel at dead times, so many people missed it, although it is worth watching, and everybody worked on it really hard, particularly director Hosni Saleh.”